Nourishing Breakfast--Bird Nest Eggs and a Tip

I thought I'd have to bow out of this week's Real Food Wednesday, till I visited Katie's blog and saw her great egg recipes. I'm totally copying her egg motif! The theme of this week's carnival is healthy kid-friendly recipes.

I saw the idea for bird nest eggs on a childhood friend's facebook and made them myself. Big hit with my kids!

First make homemade hash browns. Boil potatoes--as many as you'd like. (I did this the night before.) Grate or shred. Salt and pepper, then brown in a skillet in coconut oil or butter. My cast iron skillet resulted in a nice crispy crust.

Separately, fry eggs over easy (remember, these need to be from pastured chickens for optimal healthfulness...I'm working on finding a source of healthy eggs). You'll want one egg for each person, per serving.

Arrange a pile of hash browns on each person's plate in the shape of a nest. Place a fried egg in the dished-out center. Now you have an egg in your nest!

You could also add some kind of yummy, healthful meat to your hash browns if you'd like. Ideally, this would be served with fruit and yogurt on the side, or something along that line.

My kids loved bird nest eggs. They were getting sick of scrambled eggs, so this was something that tasted different, as well as having an imaginative name!

On a totally different note, my kids are not picky at all and they love veggies. They really do. The other day my warped children were begging their daddy for the squash he got at the restaurant. They eat things other kids won't touch.

I've asked myself why. I think it's due to a number of things.

1. I exclusively breastfeed for 6 months. No solids, not even rice cereal.

2. I don't use baby food. From day one on solids, my kids are fed mashed up real food, fruits and veggies at first. (I avoid high allergy foods, of course.) They never know that Gerber Pineapple Delight exists. Their first food experiences are real food.

3. I don't fix "kid food." When we eat chicken, the kids don't get chicken nuggets, when we have spaghetti I don't order them pizza.

4. They don't have to eat what I fix if they don't like it or aren't hungry, but I don't fix special foods for them if they choose not to eat what is on their plates.

5. They have grown some of their own food. They might not like squash if their only experience had been the store variety, but when they had ownership in growing it, it became special. They watched and waited for it to be ready to eat, and since they grew it, of course they thought it was good!

Check out more great ideas at Cheeseslave.

Simple Homemade Chicken Soup

Cheeseslave is hosting Real Food Wednesdays this week with the theme of bone broth recipes. Having grown up making foods from scratch I thought everyone knew how to cook a basic soup. like this one. The other day when I was talking to a friend, I realized this isn't the case. So here's my contribution! Hope it's helpful!

Simple Homemade Chicken Soup

1 roasted chicken (free range if you can get it--I can't so I use what I have)
6 stalks celery
6 carrots
1 onion
2 potatoes
1 small bag frozen green beans (or fresh green beans)
garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Debone chicken and refrigerate meat. Use bones to cook stock according to Nourishing Traditions or one of the great recipes available online. Strain out bones.

Now you have lots of delicious, nourishing stock!

Chop onions, carrots, and celery into pieces as large or small as you like. You are doing this because you want to cook your harder veggies first--they take longer. I like to cut my onion fairly small and slice the carrots and celery in slices about 1/4" thick.

Bring stock to boil (I start with at least a gallon) and add the veggies you've already chopped. You want the broth to be cooking your veggies at a nice steady boil, but not a violent rolling boil. Medium heat should do it. They should be done within 30 minutes. You want them crisp-tender at this point, like crispy stir fried veggies. Truthfully, I just boil away until they are done. Check your soup periodically to make sure your stock is not all boiling away.

Cut potatoes into 1 inch chunks and add to soup. Add green beans. Add chopped fresh garlic to taste...Or I use minced garlic from the jar. I don't know if that is NT kosher or not!

Continue cooking till the potatoes and beans are soft. Add meat.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

My kids beg me for this soup when they are sick. Turns out chicken soup really is good for what ails you! It's great to keep broth and cooked chicken in the freezer for quick soups...When I am sick and unable to take all the time to make stock, debone chicken, etc. it's nice to be able to put it together quickly!

Dairy Free "Ice Cream"

::~Oops! The only picture I have is the strawberry version! We can imagine it's chocolate, right?!~::

The Nourishing Gourmet is having a carnival of healthful chocolate desserts in honor of Valentine's Day. This was a popular post when I first ran it, so I thought it would be worth posting again.

This one is a great alternative for those who must avoid dairy or who don't have access to raw milk from grass fed cows--or in my case, both.

Peel and freeze a bunch of very ripe bananas. I freeze them on a cookie sheet so they don't stick together and then tranfer them to a ziploc bag.

When you're ready to make the "ice cream," chunk a couple frozen bananas up and blend in the blender with a little water or rice milk or whatever liquid you have on hand. Just pulse it slowly till it's nice and creamy, and I promise you, it will have the exact consistency of soft serve ice cream. You can eat it plain...Add a little vanilla...a glob of nut butter...a few frozen strawberries (as pictured)...a spoonful of carob powder...Lots of possibilities.

Of course, since this is a chocolate/carob carnival, I will advocate the carob version! Some nut butter and carob powder really compliments the banana flavor and gives it a nice rich smoothness. I haven' t tried it with cocoa powder but I would like to some time. It's been soooo yummy every way I've made it.

I was amazed at how good it was. We served this to friends one night, and they later told me that their freezer is now full of frozen bananas, too. You don't have to be a health food nut to enjoy this.

Nourishing Foods, Limited Options

On one hand I feel like a very beginner to the notion of nutrient-dense cooking a la Nourishing Traditions. On the other, I've been doing this to some degree all my life.

I grew up on a large hobby farm. My parents loved the country life and they felt it was a good way to raise kids. It was! Many nights we sat down to meals where we'd grown/cooked/preserved almost everything ourselves...Raw milk, fresh raw butter, homemade yogurt, garden veggies, grass fed beef, free range chicken and eggs, wild fruit at times. Once we even grew our own wheat for fresh homemade bread. We were amazingly healthy. I didn't go to the doctor from the time I was four till the time I had my first baby at age 22 (with the exception of a tetanus shot at age 12).

Now I live a different life. I live in a neighborhood outside town. Although I want to garden this year, I'm limited in how much food I can grow myself, and I live in an area that's a virtual wasteland for natural living. The only cow share farm in the state was shut down, I understand. I don't know of any CSA's and it's over and hour to the nearest health food store. (Is it coincidence that we also have one of the lowest breastfeeding rates and one of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation?)

So at this point in my life, feeding my family healthfully is a challenge. Even if you have very limited options, I'd like to encourage you to make healthy steps too.

One thing almost anyone can do is make slow-cooked bone broth. I can't get organic chicken right now, so I use what I can with the goal of doing better as I'm able. I use it to cook rice and beans and make chicken soup. My kids beg me for this soup when they are sick. I crave it myself. It truly is healing!

My parents raise a grass fed beef for us yearly. We arrange slaughter so we can pick it up when we are home for the holidays. Do you have a friend, neighbor, or family member who might allow you to pasture a beef on his property for a reasonable fee? If they are local, perhaps you could have a part in taking care of the animal if necessary. Think outside the box.

A rural neighbor has been furnishing me (off and on) with bright-yolked brown eggs. I hear a rooster crowing early in the morning from another direction, so I know other neighbors have chickens too! Drive around in the country. Go slowly...You just might spot a "fresh eggs" sign or a chicken tractor in someone's yard. You might find someone who's willing to sell you fresh eggs.

Square foot garden in your flower bed or grow something in pots. You can grow a lot of lettuce in a big flower pot!

Don't be discouraged by lack of opportunity. Do the best you can with what you have, and don't allow debilitating worry to take over when you can't do as well as you'd like! Remember, "A joyful heart is good medicine!"~Proverbs 17:22

Check out more awesome tips at Real Food Wednesdays, hosted this week by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Two Links and a Lactation Tip

I've discovered a couple delightful blogs lately. One is 4 Reluctant Entertainers, a blog dedicated to Christian hospitality. It's artful and encouraging.

The other is Blue Yonder, also delightful, even if I was tortured there by pictures of incredible pies today! Oh my!

Now for the tip, since I have to post things in threes.

When my other babies have gotten too much milk, they just unlatched in frustration. Grace, however, seems to think if she just drinks FASTER! AND! FASTER! she can somehow manage the deluge. Then we end up with choke, cough, sputter, gag, cry...It hasn't equalized with time. Finally I tried a tip I read once--let gravity work in your favor. Feeding babe while laying on your back sounds tricky, but it's not really hard and it works. No sputtery baby. I know I'm not the only one who's had this happen, so perhaps it will help one of you moms out there!

Labor

I have lots of posts floating around in my head, but a certain sweet little person is keeping me pretty busy. Meanwhile, read Hannah's great thoughts on birth. She is right on target!

Rest

Early to bed
Early to rise
Makes a man healthy,
Wealthy,
And wise.

-Ben Franklin

I grew up in a family of early-to-bedders and early risers, and I never remember feeling excessively tired as a child. I slowly got away from it, but I find right now, as I'm well into the third trimester of pregnancy, that I especially need adequate rest. It takes a lot of energy to sustain the life of another human being that now weighs several pounds.

I've heard that pre-midnight sleep hours are several times more effective than hours slept after midnight, and it seems true for me. I can sleep 8 hours starting at midnight and feel exhausted all day, or 8 hours starting at 10pm and get through my day with plenty of energy (especially when I'm not pregnant).

I've been staying up till 11:00 or so for the past few weeks, and yesterday I reached the end of my rope, physically and emotionally. Last night I headed to bed around 8:30 and Oh My! What a difference it made! I feel like a new person today.

I'm a slow learner, so I'm trying to keep this in mind for future days. Early to bed is good. Especially now.

Weird

Every time I get pregnant, I've been prone to shortness of breath. Not the baby's-squishing-my-organs kind, but something food related. With Sarah I cut out sweets (even natural sweeteners), and it helped a lot. With this pregnancy I've fudged on sweets far more than ever before, delighted that there seemed to be no ill effects. Till this week. I'd be almost gasping for breath in the middle of a meal. Billy's been saying, "Are you OK?" almost every time I ate. It's not just sweets this time, but fruit, corn, and any refined carb. And Tuesday it was so severe that I called the doctor. It felt like what I'd imagine asthma feels like. Fighting for air. But it got better. And as long as I stay away from the carbs, it stays better.

Yesterday when I saw the doctor I talked to him about it. He said he'd never heard of anything like it before. But when we went over all the details, he said it sounds like possibly my pregnant body develops a hyper-sensitivity to carbs in much the same way some people are sensitive to peanuts or bee stings. So, it's low-carb for me. I suppose if it continues it might be no carb.

The ironic thing is that a low-carb diet is the one eating pattern I swore (many times, vocally) that I could never do. I love my carbs. I NEED my carbs. ;) Never say never, right?

Any low-carb readers here? What are your favorite dishes?

Lemons

Since we've been sick, hot honey lemonade has been on the menu. It tastes good and for me, works better than any commercial expectorant. Besides, lemons are pretty. (Excuse the glare. No time to crop right now.)

Autumn Color

Orange is an autumn color, right? Well, we have autumn orange even in the tropics. (Or sub-tropics, not sure what it is officially.) Satsumas!

Satsumas are a local variety of mandarin orange. They are beginning to turn color, but the inside is ripe and juicy even when the peels are green. They are sold everywhere, by the bag, at little roadside stands. My kids adore them and beg for more. I see a satsuma tree in our future.

A Recipe, A Remedy, and a Recommendation

The Recipe

We had guests Sunday night and Elizabeth and I whipped up a batch of the world's easiest brownies. They are as easy as a box mix and just as good, probably better. I originally got the recipe from Jane's Apron and she said it came from Martha's Everyday Food. I modified it slightly and here it is. I would post a picture, but they are all gone. Actually they were all gone yesterday morning. They are very good.

Fudgy Brownies

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
6 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour

Melt butter and chocolate chips in the microwave for about 2 minutes and stir till smooth. Whisk in sugar and salt, then eggs and flour. Pour into well-greased 9 by 13 pan and bake about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

The Remedy

We've all had something (allergies? virus?) that comes with a nasty, deep, chesty cough. My mother-in-law said to rub Vicks on the bottoms of our feet and put on some socks and we'd sleep without coughing. Just minutes later I read the same thing online. The kids still coughed a bit while they were going to sleep, but I woke several times in the night to the sound of...Silence. Everyone slept through the night without coughing. It works!

The Recommendation

I just got my latest copy of Critique in the mail. This little publication has probably done more to help me grow spiritually than any other in the past few years, especially in regards to how I view and relate to the world around me. Even when I disagree, Critique never fails to sharpen and encourage. Ransom Fellowship, which publishes Critique, lives up to its motto: Developing Discernment, Deepening Discipleship. You can't subscribe, but they will add you to the mailing list for free--or a donation. You can read some back issues of Critique online, but it doesn't look like the current issue is up yet. Which is unfortunate, because it has a wonderful article I'd love to share with you called A Way of Loving about cooking and hospitality as ways to share the love of Christ with others. LOVE this magazine.

As for other books that have greatly impacted me, Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart tops the list. (I reviewed it here.) In the Bible, the book of Colossians is great for memorization and in-depth study of spiritual formation.

End-of-the-month Soup

If you're like me, sometimes you get to the end of the month and you need to wait till payday to get groceries. Now I'm very blessed, and we always have something in the house to eat and plenty of it, but often by the end of the month it is just getting a little...boring. I guess that's the price you pay for getting groceries monthly.

Anyway, I was looking for something a little different to make using what I had, and someone in the blogosphere mentioned vegetable soup. Perfect! Cheap, easy, and I had everything I needed. And the thing is, that even if your cupboard is looking like Mother Hubbards, most of us keep these basic ingredients around. Since fall is around the corner (well, not here, but everywhere else in the Northern Hemisphere), this is a great thing to make anyway.

Here's what you'll need.

Vegetables. Frozen mixed veggies, canned mixed veggies (like Veg-All), or best of all, the wilting carrots, celery, zucchini, or whatever, and sprouting potatoes that need to be used before they spoil, with a can of green beans and/or corn thrown in for good measure.

Tomato product of some kind. Almost anything works. The goal is just to make a nice tomato-ey broth. Canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice, V-8, fresh peeled and chopped tomatoes, or even salsa (for Mexican veggie soup) or spaghetti sauce (for an Italian flair).

An onion, or onion powder, or dehydrated onion flakes.

Salt, pepper, parsley, bay leaves and whatever other seasonings you fancy.

And here's how you make it.

Pour the mixed veggies in a big pot, or chop the fresh ones. If you're using fresh, just start with hard vegetables like carrots and add the fast-cooking ones a little later.

Add tomato product. If you're using juice, you don't necessarily need to add water. If you aren't using juice, add enough water to cover everything nicely. Add onions and seasonings, and simmer till the veggies are soft enough to your liking and everything looks yummy. Eat with crackers or, best of all, fresh homemade bread or cornbread, which is also cheap and takes just a few staple ingredients! Yummmm!!!

Oh, and if you want you can add a bit of meat with the veggies--whatever you have on hand. Stew meat, ground beef, ham, sausage, whatever. Then it's not veggie soup, but a bit heartier for the men in our midst.

World Breastfeeding Week 2007: Why

Why do I participate in World Breastfeeding Week? Well, the reasons, first, are personal. I believe in breastfeeding because it’s been so beneficial for my own three little ones, and for me. My main goal is encouragement. Breastfeeding is good for mamas and babies. Our medical community (as a whole) is concerned about low breastfeeding rates in our country and they are aggressively campaigning to bring those rates up. The reason? Because it’s a healthy choice. Billy asked our pediatrician (not the one referenced here) whether he saw a health difference in breastfed babies versus those fed formula, and he stated emphatically, “Oh, yes.” If more women exclusively breastfed till 6 months, the lives of over 1 million babies would be saved this year, according to UNICEF. That’s a lot of babies. So if anything I say can encourage or help someone who is thinking about breastfeeding, then I’ve met my goal. Whether you breastfeed or not, I won’t stand in judgment of you. But if you make the choice to breastfeed your baby, I’m here to cheer you on!

Essential Oils?

I'm in the market for some essential oils--lavendar, peppermint, and tea tree. Does anyone know a good place online to buy essential oils for reasonable prices?

World Breastfeeding Week 2007: Information

Here are a few great breastfeeding blogs. Such great sources of information for breastfeeding moms or those interested in breastfeeding! Of course I must issues a disclaimer...I don't necessarily endorse everything on said blogs (or any blogs I link to, for that matter), so read with discernment.

Motherwear

The Lactivist

Black Breastfeeding Blog

Infant Feeding History

Another great source of breastfeeding information is La Leche League, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Finally, Breastfeeding.com was a wonderful source of information and support to me as a new mom. Their message boards are fabulous. I must say, though, I would stay away from the debate forum. It's truly vicious, especially if you are a Christian or political conservative. But ironically, the same people who will rip you to shreds over politics or religion will rush to your aid when you post an SOS on a breastfeeding forum. So...Just use discretion.

World Breastfeeding Week 2007: Help

La Leche League was founded many years ago to provide education and support for women who wish to breastfeed. It's not always easy, and it's not always accepted. Sometimes you need encouragement or advice RIGHT NOW. Recently LLL announced that they have a hotline!

They say: "toll-free phone help is available 24 hours a day, anywhere in the US, providing information, education, and support for women who want to breastfeed, healthcare providers, and others".

1-877-4-LA LECHE

World Breastfeeding Week 2007: Myths

I think many times people don’t breastfeed, or don’t breastfeed successfully, simply because of misinformation. I’ve heard many breastfeeding myths in my short mothering career.

Once, several years ago, a mother of two teenagers told me wistfully, “I wanted so much to breastfeed my children, but I didn’t make enough milk. Everything went fine till they were three weeks old, and then they wanted to eat every hour and a half.” She so obviously still bore the disappointment of her failure that I didn’t feel it would serve any purpose to tell her that her experience was completely normal and that she almost surely could have breastfed successfully. Babies go through a growth spurt around three weeks which causes them to eat more often to increase mama’s milk supply. Furthermore, some babies need to eat every hour and a half even when they are not on a growth spurt. Babies have different sized tummies and different eating personalities. One of mine was a “grazer” who nursed every hour for the first 6 months of life. It didn’t mean I wasn’t making enough milk.

Other mothers have told me similar stories…They wanted to breastfeed but they didn’t make enough milk, or their milk was “bad”. These stories were always told as though it’s common, even normal, for a mother to not be able to breastfeed. Certainly there are cases where a woman isn’t able to breastfeed, but those cases are by far the exception, with proper information and help.

Some of the worst myths I’ve heard have been from people in the medical profession. When Billy was in the hospital with emergency surgery and I had a 4-month-old who had never taken a bottle, a nurse told me this: “Be careful or your milk will sour.” WHAT? Sure, stress can cause your supply to suffer, but sour milk…no (and yuck!). How sad that a medical professional wasn’t able to offer more constructive—or accurate--advice than that.

At Silas’ two week checkup, the pediatrician saw his excellent weight gain and said, “Oh, that’s good. I always worry about these breastfed babies So often they won’t gain weight.” I just looked at him in disbelief. This was a pediatrician? What in the world would cause him to make such a statement? Was his practice dominated by Ezzo followers or something? How could any well-informed person, especially a doctor, contend that many or most breastfed babies cannot gain weight? That ignorant statement cost him our business. We never went back.

So there are a few breastfeeding myths I’ve heard. It makes me sad, because breastfeeding is so beneficial for both mom and baby on so many levels. It’s unfortunate that such misinformation is so freely circulated, and that so many moms don’t believe they can breastfeed based on this kind of faulty advice.

What breastfeeding myths have you heard?

And a bonus: Last year's WBW posts:

My Story

Breastfeeding is Good for Moms

Breastfeeding is Good for Babies

Good for Moms, Again

Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing

Coming Soon...

August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week! Just a heads-up if you're a blogger who plans to join in all the WBW blogging. I'm collecting a few ideas to share during that week, and I'll be linking to my posts from last year too. (Wow, I have finally been blogging long enough that I can do that!)

On that note...Yesterday I was at a playdate with our just-forming MOPS group, and two moms with babies discreetly nursed their little ones in the restaurant without a problem. Now maybe this is not unusual for some of you, but most places I've lived are still in the dark ages in regards to breastfeeding, and it's pretty taboo to nurse in public. I've met more nursing moms and seen more nursing in public in the past 3 months than I have in my entire 7 years of marriage put together, which is greatly encouraging to me. I don't know if this area is just more accepting of breastfeeding, or if it's actually becoming more accepted overall. This would be a good thing, since this state has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the nation, which is causing great concern in the health department and medical community.

Preparing for Birth, Part 5

Include your husband

Keep him in the loop. If he’s not able or willing to attend appointments with you, make sure you tell him what the doctor or midwife said. Discuss options with him. You’ll do a lot better if you have his presence and support, and he’ll be much better able to help and support you if he knows what’s going on. Remember, he never has and never will be pregnant or give birth, so all he has to go on is what you tell him! One thing that was especially helpful to Billy was understanding the stages of labor. You know, "OK, this must be transition!"

Know what you want and stick to your guns

While I try to be an easy, undemanding patient, there are some things I’m not going to budge on regardless of what the doctor says, barring actual danger to me or the baby. (I’m not stupid—I do want my baby to be safe.) These non-negotiables will vary from person to person, so just know ahead of time what they are so you’re prepared to stick up for yourself. Again, remember that the doctor works for you.

Keep the goal in mind

Remember that pregnancy and birth aren’t ends in themselves…They are the means of bringing forth a tiny new life, an eternal soul made in the image of God. You are partnering with God in a holy experience!

Preparing for Birth, Part 4

Keep a good attitude

To be honest, I hate being pregnant. It’s not fun, it’s uncomfortable, I feel fat and unattractive, and I’ve had some pretty low times during pregnancy as well. But when I’m pregnant, I can choose not to focus on the bad, and instead remember that this isn’t about me and my feelings, it isn’t about being pregnant in and of itself, it’s about the creation of a priceless new life.

Don’t listen to horror stories

Ignore people who want to tell you how terrible their births were. Don’t troll the internet reading bad birth stories. Don’t watch Baby Story. Birth is a natural, wonderful experience which can go well most of the time. Listening to scary stories will only open the door for fear. If you must, kindly but firmly say, “I’d rather not hear horror stories,” and change the subject.

Pray for birth and baby

Strangely enough, I realized midway through my pregnancy with Sarah that although I was spending a lot of time worrying, I had spent very little time praying over my baby, my pregnancy, and my birth. I had to remedy that quickly. It sounds silly that I didn't think to do that, I know. But somehow I did...I believe prayer is essential for the optimal experience.